


From a Coast to Another

by TheBringerOfLove



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, Alternate Universe - Road Trip, F/M, M/M, Rarepair focused
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-13 12:53:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28528773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBringerOfLove/pseuds/TheBringerOfLove
Summary: A bunch of characters on a road trip from the East Coast to the West Coast. Chaos and fluff ensue!All characters belong to Rick Riordan! Some OCs, maybe.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Katie Gardner & Lou Ellen Blackstone, Katie Gardner/Travis Stoll, Lou Ellen Blackstone/Cecil Markowitz, Mitchell/Connor Stoll, Nico di Angelo & Jason Grace, Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Kudos: 7





	From a Coast to Another

Travis Stoll had never even dreamed about going to college. He doubted a girl would ever see anything in him. He doubted that he’d ever have enough money to buy a car. But perhaps the gods were smiling down on him. Because where he stood, he held all three of those forbidden dreams in his hands. His college wasn’t the best in the States, but it wasn’t a crappy community college (like his counselor said that he’d go to) - and it was in Maine! He’d met a nice girl named Katie in his classes and they immediately took a liking to each other (he’d never understand why). He even had a nice van, one that the two of them planned to take across the country. 

His mother would say that this was a complete 180. All Travis had done for her by the time he was in high school was simply give her gray hairs. He had run into the law multiple times, developed a nasty smoking habit, and bullied many in his school. If you asked Travis why he changed so suddenly, he’d answer “because I saw my Mom not being able to provide for us. It really made everything I did so pointless.”

He quit smoking, cold turkey. It took him a while to do it - he nearly broke his streak multiple times. He cleaned himself up and looked presentable. He made sure that the only time he ever had to go into the police station was to report things, never be reported. 

Most of all, however, he did everything he could to make money. He never told his mom, of course - she’d tell him everything was fine. But he started out in bars, trying to learn the tricks of a bartender. He never brought home an astronomical sum of money, but the look in his mother’s eyes, one of pride and joy, was something that made everything worth it. But it was at the bar that he saw people playing instruments on a small stage, making everyone a little bit happier. He wanted to do that. 

He saved up a small amount (although he felt awful not giving it to his mom) and bought a crappy electric guitar. He had no idea where to start with it, but it was only thanks to his school’s music teacher that he learned. He never expected to get anywhere with it - it seemed like too far of a shot to even consider, so he stuck to tending the bar. 

His band teacher, however, must have had different plans. In the course of about a month, he had received letters from at least 3 different local bands, all comprised of high school students. He decided to join one that wanted to get into playing at local bars - as he knew his way around the bars in the city like no other student. He had managed to convince his manager to let them play for one night - if they were good, they got a gig. If they were bad, he lost his job as a bartender. 

It was a gamble, one that Travis almost didn’t take. His mom, however, told him to take it. She’d gotten a more stable job since and was taking online courses. His money, although useful, wasn’t as needed. At this point, she just wanted her son to be happy. So he took the gig with his band. 

It wasn’t an overwhelming success, but they weren’t boo-ed off the stage or asked to stop, so he kept his job there. He didn’t find himself needing it for much longer. The band he was in worked hard to get jobs every weekend and they soon became well-known around the bars in town. He especially busted his chops to make sure that he was going to be able to reliably make it to gigs every weekend. 

Of course, it wasn’t all smooth sailing in school and out. Bands broke up, friends stopped being friends, quizzes and tests were failed, people got mad. He had questioned if he could actually make it to the end of high school. It seemed like an endless tunnel. But he always said, “if my mom could make it with me, I can do it, too.” 

Graduation was like a dream come true. He wasn’t top of his class - no one expected that. But he got his diploma with honors - something that not even his senior teachers would’ve expected. He got into a small school in southern Maine with a full scholarship, meaning his mother had very little financial stress from his degree. 

Deep down, Travis knew that he deserved much of what he got. But on the surface, he made sure to understand that it was luck, work, and support from his mom that got him to where he was. And he couldn’t be happier. 

Connor, however, had seemingly made a 90-degree turn and given up. Most people pointed to him when someone asked which Stoll brother was more likely to succeed. He went down the same route as Travis in middle school, only slightly less severe. But whereas Travis did everything he could to make himself a better person, Connor had tried and given up.

He gave up smoking for about 6 months before giving up and smoking twice as much as he normally did. He even started drinking at his friend’s house - an extreme that not even Travis had reached. His grades slipped and he stopped going to school almost entirely. Travis pleaded with him multiple times to try and snap out of it, but all Connor ever did was laugh in his face and tell him that he wasn’t as fun as he used to be. Connor barely left the house at all after Travis left for college. He never showed it, but he was hurt by the way that his brother had left him, not even bothering to see if he was okay. 

His mom had seemingly given up with him and only came to his graduation because a guardian needed to be there. He barely got his diploma. To make matters worse, he ignored all of his brother’s attempts to talk to him, and whenever he needed to answer, he just gave simple, one-word responses. In the letters that Travis would send (because his mom preferred letters), he addressed Connor in a few sentences. Whenever Travis would visit, Connor ignored him, preferring to play video games in his room. He was the one that went to the crappy community college, barely going to his classes there, either. 

He had overnight flings with people he met on campus, dumping them the next day. Perhaps he was jealous of his brother, who had managed to situate himself with a nice girlfriend. He got tired of hearing “Travis this, Travis that”. He was not Travis. Perhaps the only good thing that he had in his life was a stable relationship. He had gotten tired of overnight flings and just ended up settling with a boy in one of his classes named Mitchell. He had cleaned himself up a little bit for him, but still smoked and drank like a pirate.

Connor Stoll turned out as a failure in many people’s eyes. Travis Stoll was a success story. 

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter 1 guys! If you have any specific places you want to see in this fic or a specific scene, please do comment! Comments make my day, really.


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